Joe McIntyre/staff photographer
Dick Williams (left) chats during the 2007 New York State YMCA Swimming Championships at SUNY Cortland’s Holsten Pool. This year’s championship is dedicated to Williams for his 38 years of service to the Cortland Stingers program.

The 2007 New York State YMCA Swimming Championships will continue today and Sunday. The Cortland Stingers are hosting this showcase for many of the top young swimmers in the stats in the Harriet Holsten Pool inside the Park PER Center on the SUNY-Cortland campus.
Swimming action began at 8 a.m. today and will run until approximately 9:30 p.m. Sunday the meet will run from 9 a.m. until 8:30 p.m. There is a charge for the single-day passes. Cortland lasted host the New York State YMCA Championships in 2003 and the Stingers have hosted the meet numerous times since that first visit in 1976.
The 2007 meet holds special meaning as it is being dedicated to Dick Williams, who has been involved with the Cortland Stingers for 38 years. Williams served as one of the Stingers coaches since the program began in 1968 at the current YMCA location on Tompkins Street and is now the Team Director, being responsible for much of the work to prepare the Cortland area to again host one of the largest swim meets in the country.
This year’s program has a two-page bio/tribute to Williams and he will honored with a short presentation this evening around 6 p.m.
Williams began his swimming career at age nine in the old Court Street YMCA under coaches trained by legendary SUNY-Cortland coach Doc Councilman. When Councilman became swim coach at Indiana University, Williams followed as he left Homer to train with the Indianapolis Athletic Club under coach Gene Lee at the age of 13. Williams made six appearances at the Senior AAU Nationals and he has set Junior Olympic National and National Prep School records while swimming at Peekskill Academy.
Williams competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials in 1960 and 1964, placing eighth in 1960 at the age of 15.
Williams returned to the Cortland area in 1968 as coach at the YMCA and the Stingers were born.
While health issues have forced Williams away from the coaching side, he is still involved with the program and his coaching legacy continues with his daughter, Kim Eckhardt, who coaches the Stingers Blue Team.
Everyone involved with the Stingers, past and present, simply wanted to say thank you Dick Williams, for everything.

By The Associated Press
Say goodbye to Lute Olson, who will join his good friends Bob Knight and Mike Krzyzewski as spectators. The three coaching legends were booted from the NCAA tournament just as the fun was starting.
Olson’s Arizona Wildcats ended an underachieving season with a 72-63 loss to Purdue on Friday night, joining Kryzewski and Knight as first-round losers. This becomes the first tournament since 1995 to start the second round without any of these Hall of Famers.
“I think all three of us will hope that never happens again,” Olson said. “We’ll be back.”
Olson, 72, was coaching his 73rd NCAA tournament game, third on the all-time list. Krzyzewski is ahead of him and Knight is right behind at 70. Those coaches are also among the top five on the tournament wins list.
Olson was trying for career win No. 47, which would’ve tied John Wooden for third place.
“I’m disappointed, just like they are,” Olson said after the Midwest Regional loss. “It doesn’t take a Rhodes Scholar to figure out that if you give them 19 more possessions then you’re not going to get it done.”
While Olson, and the two Coach Ks won’t be chasing another title, Winthrop validated its credentials by beating Notre Dame. And UNLV sparked some memories of its championship past by winning its first tournament game since 1991.
Craig Bradshaw, an import from New Zealand, scored 24 points and Torrell Martin added 20 and a career-high 11 rebounds as Big South champ Winthrop beat Notre Dame 74-64. Winthrop, 0-6 in previous tournament appearances, blew all of its 20-point lead in the second half before surging in the final two minutes to end Notre Dame’s first NCAA appearance since 2003.
On the bus ride to the arena, Martin had told his teammates in an impassioned, impromptu speech: “We as Winthrop cannot lose again and be considered a good, mid-major team. We’d be a fluke team that can only win its weak conference.”
So they outplayed one of the Big East’s best in the Midwest Regional.
Also in that region, the Runnin’ Rebels beat Georgia Tech 67-63 behind 19 points each from Michael Umeh and Wendell White.
“Everybody knows that this was a great win for Las Vegas, for UNLV and the Mountain West Conference,” Curtis Terry said. “But we’re not done yet.”
The Runnin’ Rebels had not won in the NCAAs since reaching the 1991 Final Four under Jerry Tarkanian. They’ll meet second-seeded Wisconsin in the second round Sunday.MIDWESTOregon 58, Miami (Ohio) 56: Aaron Brooks scored 18 points and the third-seeded Ducks moved into the second round for the first time since 2002.
The pesky Miami of Ohio RedHawks (18-15) had a chance to tie late, but Michael Bramos’ fallaway 3-point attempt bounced off the front of the rim. Tim Pollitz finished with 21 points for the RedHawks.Wisconsin 76, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 63: Flustered for most of the first half, Wisconsin overcame an 18-point deficit to advance past the 15th-seeded Islanders.
Kammron Taylor, scoreless at the break, finished with 24 points for the Badgers (30-5). Wisconsin also clamped down its defense on the Islanders, who began playing basketball in the 1999-2000 season.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (26-7) came out strong in their first tournament appearance, scoring the game’s first 10 points and later leading 25-7 against the stunned Badgers.
Big Ten player of the year Alando Tucker scored 23 points for the Badgers, and 7-foot center Chris Daniels led A&M-Corpus Christi with 20 points.Florida 112, Jackson State 69: The top-seeded Gators responded from a lackluster first half with the best half in school history. Corey Brewer led the defending national champions with 21 points, but it was another balanced effort from the team that returned all five starters from last season.
The Gators (30-5) were clearly bigger, faster and more talented than the Tigers (21-14). However, they didn’t show it until after halftime.
———EASTTexas 79, New Mexico St. 67: Kevin Durant had 27 points and eight rebounds to lead fourth-seeded Texas. The freshman phenom made 11 of 12 free throws in the second half and was 15-for-16 overall. He connected on two from the line after a rebound with 1:10 left that put Texas ahead 75-66.
D.J. Augustin had 19 points and seven assists for the Longhorns (25-9), who will play Southern California.
Elijah Ingram had 16 points for 13th-seeded New Mexico State (25-9), making its first NCAA appearance since 1999; it has not advanced past the first round since ‘93.Southern Cal 77, Arkansas 60: Taj Gibson did much of his best work this season after most of America had gone to sleep already amazed by other multitalented freshmen who dominated college hoops. There was no overlooking Southern California’s newest star Friday.
On the big stage of the NCAA tournament, Gibson finished with 18 points and eight rebounds to lift the Trojans over Arkansas (21-14).
Nick Young scored 20 points for the Trojans (24-11), who won in their first appearance in the tournament since 2002.
———WESTVirginia Tech 54, Illinois 52: After trailing by as many as 13, Virginia Tech won on Deron Washington’s banked runner in the final minute.
Illinois (23-12) led by 10 with just over 4 minutes left, but didn’t score in the last 4:28 as the Hokies had the last 12 points. The Hokies (24-11) pulled to 52-50 with Washington hitting a 3-pointer, Coleman Collins making two free throws and Washington shooting another 3 from the right corner with 2:25 left.
Washington scored 14 points for the Hokies, who will play Southern Illinois in the second round.
Warren Carter led the Illini with 15 points.Southern Illinois 61, Holy Cross 51: No rhythm, no flow, no open shots. Southern Illinois got the exact type of game it wanted.
Letting their gritty defense do the work, the Salukis overcame a front-line injury and beat Holy Cross.
Reserve forward Tony Boyle scored a career-high 14 points in the second half, including one banked-in free throw, as Southern Illinois (28-6) matched its school record for wins.
Holy Cross (25-9) had even bigger problems, keeping the Crusaders in a deep tournament rut. They won the national championship in 1947 with a team that featured guard Bob Cousy, but haven’t won a tournament game since 1953, dropping their last nine.Kansas 107, Niagara 67: No first-round exit for Kansas this time. The fast-breaking and top-seeded Jayhawks took care of that early, running out to a 25-point halftime lead against Niagara.
Sent to the sidelines by first-round losses against Bucknell and Bradley the last two seasons, Kansas (31-4) was too fast, too deep and too talented for the Purple Eagles (23-12).
Mario Chalmers led Kansas — making its 18th straight and 36th overall appearance in the NCAA tournament — with 19 points. Charron Fisher scored 17 for Niagara, which beat Florida A&M 77-69 in Tuesday’s play-in game.
Kansas will face Kentucky in the second round.Kentucky 67, Villanova 58: Randolph Morris finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds, and eighth-seeded Kentucky flexed its muscle in the second half. Kentucky (22-11) advanced to the second round for the 16th straight year and will play top-seeded Kansas on Sunday.
Scottie Reynolds, Big East rookie of the year, came up big in his first NCAA tournament appearance with 23 points, including 8-of-12 shooting from the line for Villanova (22-11).
———SOUTHVirginia 84, Albany 57: J.R. Reynolds scored 28 points and Virginia got its first tournament win since 1995, when it reached the final eight. Sean Singletary added 23 points and nine assists for the fourth-seeded Cavaliers (21-10), who will meet Tennessee in the second round.
Reynolds made his first seven shots — four from behind the arc — and went 7-of-9 overall in the first half, piling up 23 points in only 17 minutes.
Jamar Wilson scored 25 points for Albany (23-10).Tennessee 121, Long Beach St. 86: Tennessee had five players score in double figures as it matched the most points in a first-round game, set by UNLV in 1977 against San Francisco.
Chris Lofton scored 25 points and Dane Bradshaw had 11 assists for the fifth-seeded Volunteers (23-10), who tied the school record for points in a game. The Volunteers topped 100 on a dunk by Duke Crews with more than 61/2 minutes left.
Kejuan Johnson scored 24 points for 12th-seeded Long Beach State (24-8).Memphis 73, North Texas 58: Chris Douglas-Roberts had 16 points and Memphis extended its winning streak to 23 games.
Robert Dozier had 11 points and seven rebounds, and Joey Dorsey added nine points and 15 rebounds for the Tigers (31-3), who overcame a slow start to grab control late in the first half and hardly let up against their Sun Belt foe.
Second-seeded Memphis will face Nevada in the second round.
Keith Wooden led North Texas (23-11) with 16 points.Nevada 77, Creighton 71, OT: Marcelus Kemp saved seventh-seeded Nevada from another early exit. With Wolf Pack star Nick Fazekas off his game, Kemp capped a 27-point performance with nine points in overtime.
Nevada (29-4) was bounced by Montana in last year’s first round.
Fazekas had his second-worst shooting performance of the season and fouled out with 3:06 left in overtime. The senior still finished with 17 points.
Nate Funk had 23 points for the Blue Jays (22-11).